Vincenzo Foppa of Brescia, founder of the Lombard school, his life ...

Chap. III. MADONNA IN THE CASTELLO MUSEUM 83
Vight, is modelled with great skill and knowledge ; the white veil framing her
face and outlined upon the golden glory follows,
in the main, the principles of
sculpture, but has been admirably adapted to the exigencies of painting ; the
folds of the blue mantle are of a character which from this time forward we
meet with in a more or less accentuated degree in all the master's genuine
works. The robe of the Madonna, a very triumph of his palette, is of a
splendid shade of red, like translucent enamel with golden lights ; this same
glowing shade of red is also adopted for the groundwork of a band of ornament
introduced on the columns on either side of the parapet on which stands
the Infant Saviour, and framing in the whole picture. On this band the
following inscription is decipherable : "ave . SANCTisiM[a] . maria . porta .
PA . RADIXI . DOMINA . MONDI • PURA . SINGULARIS . M[at]E[r] . VIRGO . SINGULARIS .
IN . CONCET . .
."'
The outward characteristics of Foppa are present in every part of the
picture, but of far greater importance than any external tokens of the master's
hand are the psychological qualities, the inherent marks of his genius. The
Madonna, in spite of certain obvious defects in the drawing of the features
which might cause this picture to be stigmatized as repellent, is nevertheless
in some respects, one of the noblest he ever composed ;
a type at once strong
and gentle, and of remarkable dignity. So majestic in conception is this
little work that it seems far removed from the ordinary sphere of subjects
of this class, with which countless examples have familiarized us in Italian
art ; they represent, as a rule, the Mother and Child treated in a more or
less homely fashion with many charming details of the everyday life of the
period, and nothing more ; but Foppa's picture differs fundamentally from
such works, and the idea underlying this representation places it on a
higher plane, for in the Virgin it was evidently the painter's intention to
depict the Mother of God, and in the Child with his dignified attitude
and hand uplifted in blessing, the Saviour of the world, a form of composition
closely connected in feeling with Jacopo and Giovanni Bellini. Though
lacking the outward charm of expression found in the works of these
masters, it has assumed in the hands of Foppa a more severe and solemn
character.
Buttinone took this Madonna as a model for his picture now in the Brera,
but has entirely missed the significance
of Foppa's composition and returns
1 The jewel-like red illumined with gold so freely used in this picture is met with
in many works by Foppa; in the Adoration of the Magi in our National Gallery,
for instance, produced certainly in the later years of the master's career, and in the
Madonna and Child in the collection of Mr. Davis at Newport, Rhode Island. The
technique is very similar to what we find in Mantegna's triptych in the Ufiizi, in a
tondo ascribed to Pisanello at Berlin, and in other contemporary works.